There was a time when I'd have thought it reasonable enough that a boys' boxing club should be asked to make provision for girls.

After all, isn't modern society supposed to be about equal opportunities, with women now working in traditionally male domains such as HGV driving and plumbing?

On that basis, I'd have considered it perfectly sensible that girls who wanted to learn boxing should be able to do so alongside their male counterparts.

But then I became the mother of two boys. And as a result I had to swiftly abandon my preconceived view that behavioural differences between boys and girls resulted from nurture as much as nature.

I've found out the hard way that boys will be boys. It's not a cliche – it's a fact. They fight. They fidget. They fool around. They are fiercely competitive. When they get upset, they're more likely to thump something or someone than to burst in to tears – but that doesn't mean their feelings of distress should be diminished or dismissed.

So I can understand why Post photographer Dave Betts was moved to produce the photographs and words in this week's Seven about Broad Plain Boys' Club (see pages 6 and 7). The club altered its name recently to Broad Plain Working With Young People, as part of changes to make the club more female-friendly to meet Bristol City Council funding criteria. But there are fears the club could be damaged if changes go too far.

To a casual observer in the club's boxing gym, it's a macho world in which young men are taught how to punch each other. But anyone who understands boys will know that a club like this teaches them more than that.

After witnessing regular punch-ups between my two, I'm well aware that most boys are naturally adept at fighting. What they're not so good at is controlling their natural aggression. Nor is it always easy for them to cope with the self-control expected when they are growing up in a society more suited to the ways of girls.

Girls tend to find it easier to sit quietly and concentrate. Work that requires fine motor skills such as writing comes to them more easily. They are, therefore, arguably better able to cope with the pressures of the Government's target-driven education system.

The selling-off of many school playing fields, and the reduction in physical education at some schools to allow more classroom time for exam league table subjects, wouldn't affect most girls in the way as it does those boys who need an outlet for their restless, relentless energy. It's a medical fact that boys have on average 30 per cent more muscle bulk than girls and more red blood cells. They generally need to move around more than members of the fairer sex.

A friend who lived in a house near a village green told me how, as she looked out of her window, she realised the huge difference between the way boys and girls play.

She would watch the girls sitting quietly, usually in small groups, while the boys raced around in a disorderly gang, constantly moving and making noise.

More poignantly, several years ago I interviewed a mother whose daughter was killed when a gunman opened fire on children at Dunblane Primary School in Scotland. Sixteen children and their teacher died in the shooting in the school gymnasium. Twelve of the dead children were girls, and four were boys. When I wondered why so many more girls than boys had been killed, the mother told me the boys had been running around before the start of the gym lesson, while the girls had been sitting on the floor and had been easier targets.

But boys don't just need greater physical activity than girls in order to thrive. They also benefit immensely from mentoring from older males, be it their father, a teacher or an instructor at a club.

Which is where somewhere like Broad Plain Boys' Club – as it is still widely known – comes in.

The club has been run for 33 years by Dennis Stinchcombe, MBE, who earlier this week became the first person to be nominated for the new honorary degree from Bristol University for his work with young people.

Mr Stinchcombe was nominated by Royal Marine Commando Jason Gardner, a former member of Broad Plain Boys' Club, who said: "Through the club, he turns energetic boys into esteemed men."

For the most important lessons that the boys learn in the ring at the club are not about winning – or losing – at boxing. The boxer who called himself The Greatest, Muhammad Ali, famously said: "The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses – behind the lines, in the gym, and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights."

The young men who learn to fight at Broad Plain Boys' Club also learn about the things that matter behind the lines, such as discipline, courage and respect.

In doing so, they become equipped to win their own personal battles – and are ready to step out into the bright lights of manhood.